RhythmWorks designs theatrical show

November 21, 2009|By HOWARD DUKES Tribune Staff Writer

A lot of people know RhythmWorks from the educational programs and drum circles they conduct throughout the community. In fact, anybody who attends community arts events on a regular basis has probably seen the percussion group that is led by Vincenzo Carrasco, Judith Hizer and James Riley. Education is definitely important to the group, Carrasco, who along with Riley founded RhythmWorks in 2003, says. However, RhythmWorks is a performance group as well, as those who attend their show Friday at the Acorn Theater will see, Carrasco says. The concert also is a benefit for the Harbor Country Food Pantry. RhythmWorks is no stranger to audiences at the Acorn. “We’ve performed there before as a part of a larger thing called ‘The Other Side Show,’ ” Carrasco says. “We did a lot of music for ‘The Other Side Show’ and I facilitated the drum circles there.” The event was a big success, he says. Carrasco says the ensemble also enjoyed playing at the Acorn, and so he approached owner David Fink about the possibility of booking RhythmWorks. Initially, Fink was reluctant because he worried that the show would consist of a drum circle and not an actual performance. Carrasco quickly put Fink’s mind at ease. “We do a lot more (in our) performances than what you saw,” he says. The ensemble has a bigger and more ambitious show on tap for Friday’s show. “We’re going to do a lot of the same music that we normally do, but we’re going to have some added elements,” Carrasco says. “We’ve added some musicians and instruments that we’ve never had before.” For example, the performance will include the hammer and mountain dulcimer. Joyce James, who is Carrasco’s mother, will play the Irish tin flute in addition to the oboe, clarinet and recorder. The group will use drums from Japan in addition to drums of African, Latin and Middle Eastern origin normally used during RhythmWorks shows. Carrasco says that two dancers will perform with the band. Dancing has been a part of RhythmWorks performances, but the show at the Acorn will introduce something new. First of all, this show will feature two dancers. “That’s kind of new for us, too,” Carrasco says. “We’ve had dancers before, but only one at a time and choreography is new for us.” Katie Mansfield, one of the dancers, also is new to the group. “James was teaching an African drumming (class) at my church and I asked him where could I go to do African dance,” Mansfield, a University of Notre Dame graduate who returned to the area to work at the university, says. Riley invited her to a RhythmWorks rehearsal and she started dancing with the group a few days later. Carrasco says the show also will have a visual element. “We’re going to have some creative visuals that we will project from their movie screen, and a lot of it will be interactive with the music, so that what you see on the screen will change based on the music we’re playing,” Carrasco says. The music will include original compositions by RhythmWorks members. So, this show will feature a light show, dancing and people playing Irish tin flutes, dulcimers and drums from Africa, Latin America, the Middle East and Japan. That sounds like quite a mash up. Carrasco says there is an order to all of this. “The first set is going to be traditional, so that all of the instruments used in African music will be used when we play African music, and when we’re going to do Irish music, we’re going to be using traditional instruments, like the tin flute,” he says. “We’re not going to mix a whole lot in that first set.” There will be some melding, however, after the intermission. “We just mix and match,” he says. “We experiment, and we take what sounds the best.”